Criminals Or Vigilantes ? the Kuluna Gangs of the Democratic Republic

POLICY BRIEF CRIMINALS OR VIGILANTES? The Kuluna gangs of the Democratic Republic of Congo Marc-André Lagrange and Thierry Vircoulon MAY 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit for funding this research. We are grateful to our local advisors Dasol, Bantu Lukambo, Viko and Fab, who provided access to the Kinshasa gang scene and invaluable insights into the gangs’ activities and way of life. We would also like to thank Veronique Moufflet for her photographic contribution and professor Sara Liwerant of Kinshasa University for her pioneering work on the Kuluna gangs. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Marc-André Lagrange is a senior researcher on conflict, humanitarian and security issues in central Africa. He previously worked with the International Crisis Group as senior analyst and spent several years working in the Democratic Republic of Congo in various capacities. He W frequently collaborates with the French Institute for International Affairs. Thierry Vircoulon coordinates the Observatory of Central and Southern Africa of the French Institute for International Affairs. He has worked for the French foreign ministry, the European Commission, the International Crisis Group and the Institute for Political Studies in Paris. He has written extensively on security, governance and development issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo. © 2021 Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Global Initiative. Cover: Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. © Images of Africa Photobank/Alamy Please direct inquiries to: The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime Avenue de France 23 Geneva, CH-1202 Switzerland www.globalinitiative.net CONTENTS Summary....................................................................................................................................................i Introduction �� 1 The youth gangs of Kinshasa �� 3 Criminal partnerships �� 7 Political mercenaries ��7 Partners in crime ��9 Policy responses ��10 Mass detainment ��10 Operation Iron Fist ��11 Conclusion ��14 Recommendations ��15 Notes ��16 W SUMMARY The current rise in insecurity in Kinshasa, the enforcement agencies, these gangs threaten urban capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), security in the city. This paper examines the rise of the is often attributed to urban youth gangs – the Kulunas from a historical and sociological perspective, Kulunas. Embedded in Kinshasa’s neighbourhood and analyzes the state’s security responses to address it. life and partnered with local political parties and law Key points ■ Since the beginning of 2020, there has been a new ■ It is now necessary to develop a social approach surge in Kuluna activity in Kinshasa, resulting in a focused on prevention strategies and a strong rise in serious crimes, including armed robbery and judiciary response. violent assaults. ■ The gang problem indicates that one of the major ■ Kuluna gangs are no longer solely a Kinshasa crime challenges in the DRC in the coming years will be phenomenon but the problem has also become urban security governance. widespread in smaller cities. ■ Past and current policy approaches focused on violent police repression have failed, creating counterproductive consequences. i A PROBLEM DISPLACED • THE SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS THROUGH BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA INTRODUCTION ince Félix Tshisekedi, the president of the DRC, came to power in 2019, Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, news about the rise of insecurity in the capital city, Kinshasa, has been has seen a surge of criminal reported daily. Urban youth gangs, known as the Kulunas, are blamed activity in the past two years. S © Desirey Minkoh/AFP via Getty for this. However, the gangs are not a new phenomenon: they emerged at the Images beginning of the 21st century and their historical roots are almost as old as the city itself. These gangs are barely known outside of the DRC. Initially, the gangs were associated specifically with Kinshasa, but they have now been spreading to other cities, even crossing the Congo River and causing insecurity and a brutal police backlash in the capital of neighbouring Republic of Congo, Brazzaville. Kuluna From the Lingala verb kolona, ‘to plant’, ‘to cultivate’. The word is a derivative of the French ‘coloniser’ while also referring to the military term colonne, meaning ‘walking in line’. The term was first used in the 1990s to refer to the DRC’s south-western urban youngsters illegally entering northern Angola in search of diamonds. Since 2000 the term has become a generic way to name criminals. The word ‘Kuluna’ is now used in specific expressions to identify categories of criminals. For instance,Kuluna en cols blancs (white-collar Kuluna) and Kuluna en cravate (tie-wearing Kuluna) refer to business criminals, and Kuluna en uniformes (Kuluna in uniform) refers to racketeering police and military personnel.1 INTRODUCTION 1 Despite their infamous reputation, there are very few studies about the Kulunas. Most of the information stems from the Congolese media, which focuses on the violence perpetrated by the gangs, and communities’ dissatisfaction with urban crime and police reactions. Because of this specific perspective, news reports do not provide much information about the gangs or their way of life. This paper aims to fill this gap by offering a historical and sociological snapshot of the Kuluna gangs, complementing the growing body of research about street gangs elsewhere in Africa. Research for this paper was conducted through an extensive desk review and interviews with various stakeholders, such as politicians, academics, journalists and priests. Some respondents had dealt directly or indirectly with the gangs, and others were former or active gang members. The latter provided invaluable information about their daily activities, lifestyle and perspectives on life. The Kulunas have established criminal partnerships with some elements within the police force and various political parties, and the government is seeking to counter this with violent policy responses. This paper argues that this state-sanctioned violence is so far a dead end and that it has had serious counterproductive consequences, and suggests that there may be a window of opportunity for a strategy that combines repression and prevention. Violent police responses have been the government’s main approach to gang activity in the DRC. © Lionel Healing/AFP via Getty Images 2 GUNS FOR GANGSTERS • SOUTH AFRICA’S FAILING FIREARMS CONTROL THE YOUTH GANGS OF KINSHASA he Kuluna gangs cannot not be understood without some knowledge Gang fighting is an essential of their contextual environment. Established in the 19th century, part of the Kuluna way of life. Kinshasa was a small colonial outpost that experienced rapid urban © Junior D. Kannah/AFP via Getty T Images growth in the 1950s. Today, with a population of 12 million,it is the biggest city in central Africa and its population numbers are still rising. Urbanization has been unmanageable, and the majority of the city’s inhabitants are under 25 years of age. From an administrative perspective, Kinshasa is both a city and a province. As a result, it has a provincial assembly and is run by a governor. Street youth gangs first appeared in the city in the 1950s. Known as the Bills or the Yankees, these gangs were the first manifestation of youth violence in Kinshasa’s townships. Later, with the political and economic decline brought about by the regime of former president Mobuto Sese Seko in the 1990s, urban areas became new territories for unemployed youth from the country’s rural areas, who migrated to the city to make a living. As the country fell into an unprecedented economic crisis, unemployed youngsters took over the streets trying to survive by any means possible.2 Kuluna gangs first appeared as a social phenomenon around the year 2000, in a context of state collapse and complete breakdown of law and order.3 During this period of anarchy and

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